All in the Family
by HuddyJoy0524
Summary: SEQUEL TO STACY'S RETURN. 10 years later: When House and Cuddy start fighting and it looks like they'll split up, its up to feuding sisters Rachel and Amber to come together and make their parents fall in love all over again.
1. Rachel and Amber

_Hey everyone! I know it's been forever but I've had a ton going on this semester! Now that it's over I'm planning on writing some more fics for you all this summer! _

_So this is a sequel to "Stacy's Return." If you haven't read "Stacy's Return" I highly suggest it because you may be a little lost, but you should still be able to follow this if you haven't. Stacy's Return was written in between the airings of Braveheart and Known Unknowns so everything taking place after Braveheart does not exist in this alternate House world (lol). _

_I also want to clear up a numerical error I made in the last chapter of Stacy's Return: October/October. It says 15 months later but it should have said 17 months. Rachel should be 2 years and 10 months older than Amber. This story is taking place 10 years and 2 months later meaning that in this story Amber has just turned 10 and Rachel is 2 months from turning 13. Because Rachel's birthday is in December, she was held out a year from school so she's only in 7__th__ grade. Amber was not held out the extra year, so she is in 5__th__ grade. _

_P.S. This is a HUDDY fanfic but Rachel and Amber are technically the main characters. Also, you all know I love to write stuff as much in character as possible but parts of this may be a little OOC because of the time gap and the fact that I have no idea how House and Cuddy would be as parents. I'm gonna try my best though! _

"Catch Dad!" House looked up just in time to see a softball hurling at him from across the room. He put his hands out just in time and barely caught it. He sighed and shot Rachel a look. "Geez woman!"

Rachel dumped her backpack on the floor and collapsed into a chair in front of House's desk. "Whatcha doing?"

House turned his computer monitor off quickly. "Nothing. Just…checking emails."

"Righttt" Rachel smirked. She picked up House's red ball from his desk and twirled it around in her hands.

"Can I help you?" House asked. "What are you doing here anyway?"

"Ummm…its 5 o clock. Duh! Aunt Amy picked us up from school and brought us here after practice."

House frowned and looked down at his watch. "Oh. I didn't realize it was so late."

Rachel continued to sit there and twirl the ball around in her hands.

House sighed and folded his hands behind his neck, leaning back in his chair. "Why are you still in here? What do you want?"

Rachel didn't look up at House but stared at the ball. "I heard you and Mom fighting again last night." She glanced up at House quickly before looking down again.

House said nothing and stared at Rachel instead. "We…yeah."

Rachel looked up at House. "Are you gonna split up?"

"No!" House said rather angrily. Rachel looked taken aback by the anger.

"I mean…look. Couples fight all the time. You don't need to worry about it okay?"

Rachel sighed. "Alright. Would you guys tell me if anything was wrong?"

"Do I lie to you?" House asked.

Rachel gave a little smile. "No. Never."

House gave a little smile back and turned back to his computer screen. "Now if you don't mind…I have some…work to get back to."

"Actually…I was wondering if you could help me with my math homework." Rachel grimaced and pulled out her test. A big red D was written across the top.

"Has your mother seen this?" House asked, grimacing back.

Rachel shook her head. "Can you please just sign it and not tell her? She's going to kill me!"

House gave her a look. "Alright. Fine, just this once. JUST because you have a big game on Saturday."

"Thanks Dad," Rachel sighed with relief.

"Why don't you get Amber to help you?"

Rachel plopped the ball down, loudly, in its place. "No thanks."

House looked up at her. "Why not?"

"Because. She's a snot! She just tells me I'm stupid anyway." Rachel grabbed the signed test out of House's hands and got up while shoving it in her backpack.

House rolled his eyes and got up from his desk. "Am I sensing some issues with your sister?"

"No." Rachel zipped up her backpack loudly and swung it onto her back.

"Rachel. Stop deflecting." House grabbed her backpack and stopped her from walking out the door.

Rachel wrenched herself from House's grip. "Leave me alone."

"Fine. Whatever." House turned away from her and walked back over to his desk, sitting down. He picked up a file and began picking through it. He waited about a minute and looked back up, and Rachel was still standing there. House, frowning, put his folder down on the desk when he noticed Rachel was trying not to cry.

"What's REALLY going on?" House asked.

Rachel burst into tears. House sighed, got back up from his desk and limped over to Rachel, sitting her down on the ottoman. He sat down on his chair and leaned forward on his arms, waiting.

Rachel continued to cry for a couple minutes before wiping her tears. "You wouldn't understand Dad."

"Try me."

"Well there's this boy…Adam. He's in 6th grade. I really like him and he's really smart. But I'm not pretty. He doesn't even notice me. And today I saw him talking to Amber by her locker. She's only 10 years old!" Rachel sniffled.

"Ok Rachel look. First of all, your mother is not going to let Amber date this kid. She's too young. Second of all, where do you get off thinking your ugly?" House looked at her in confusion.

Rachel wiped her sleeve across her eyes. "I'm stupid too. I didn't get the 'smart genes'." Rachel finished the last part of her sentence bitterly.

"Oh please!" House threw his hands into the air. "Last time I checked you had a 98 in English class! And you can sing! The rest of us sound like dying pigs!"

Rachel couldn't help giggling a little but she sobered right back up. "It doesn't matter."

"Oh I see so now you're feeling sorry for yourself."

"Hey look who's talking!" Rachel shot back.

House opened his mouth and then shut it again. "Good point. But you don't have the excuse I do. Now stop moping and go tap that."

"Dad!" Rachel slapped his arm. She suddenly threw her arms around him, tightly. "Thanks Dad."

House couldn't help smiling a bit. "For what?"

"For not being mushy. Or being an asshole."

"Hey, you better not say that in front of your mom. She'll kill you." House said.

Rachel smiled. "That's why I don't say anything in front of her!"

MD

Amber threw Cuddy's doors open and waltzed in slamming the door behind her. Cuddy jumped and threw her pen down on her desk. "Sheesh does anyone in this family know how to knock?"

Amber grinned and tossed her backpack on the couch. "How was your day, Mom?"

"Good," Cuddy said casually. "Where's your sister?"

Amber shrugged. "I think she's with Dad. Aunt Amy brought us from practice."

"How did practice go?" Cuddy folded her hands and looked up at her daughter.

Amber shrugged. "It was alright. We almost dropped Brittany. She's getting heavy; I think we need a new flyer."

Cuddy raised her eyebrows. "What do you mean she's "getting heavy?"

"She's getting heavy," Amber reiterated. "She's gained some weight in the past couple of months."

"Well….just remember to be nice. I'm sure she's trying her best."

"Yeah yeah," Amber shrugged it off and crossed her arms, leaning back in her chair. "Umm…Mom?"

"Yes sweetie."

"Rachel and I…we ummm….we heard you and Dad fighting again last night."

Cuddy looked up, but Amber had suddenly grown really interested in her pink nail polish. Cuddy sighed and put her head in her hands. "I'm sorry Am. We shouldn't have been so loud. And we...we shouldn't have been fighting." Cuddy looked up at Amber, like she was about to cry.

"Oh Mom don't start crying!" Amber got up and walked over to her mom's desk, sitting on her lap and giving her a big hug. "We were just worried."

Cuddy smiled and took a deep breath. "I appreciate it. But…everything's going to be okay."

Amber kissed her mother on the cheek and got up. "I'll let you get back to work." She walked over to her backpack and got her homework out. "Mrs. Roberts thinks that I need to jump up a math class again in math."

"But Am you're already on a 7th grade level!"

Amber shrugged. "It's easy."

Cuddy grinned. "Maybe you should take the extra time to get that English grade up."

"It's only an 83!"

Cuddy gave her a look. "Maybe you should get Rachel to help you."

Amber rolled her eyes. "Yeah right. She's just going to tell me I'm dumb. It's not worth my time."

Cuddy shrugged and went back to her paperwork. Mother and daughter continued in this way for a few minutes before Amber sighed and put her pencil down. "Mom. There's this boy…"

Cuddy looked up, amused, at her younger daughter. "Who is he?"

"Well…his name is Adam. He's in 6th grade. He is really sweet AND he's a football player! I really like him."

"Sweetie, you're only in fifth grade. You should wait a couple more years before you start thinking about dating!"

Amber pouted. "But he's so cute! By the time a couple more years passes he'll have a girlfriend!"

Cuddy sighed. "I'll talk you your father about it, Am, okay? I think you're too young but maybe a harmless little date between children would be alright."

Amber smiled. "You're the best."

"I try," Cuddy grinned.

Suddenly, Cuddy's doors banged open loudly and she and Amber jumped. House waltzed in followed by Rachel. Cuddy rolled her eyes. "You know…one day you guys are going to walk in on something you shouldn't."

House raised his eyebrows a couple of times at Cuddy suggestively and she smiled a little.

MD

Rachel stabbed at her peas and sighed, resting her head on her hand.

Cuddy cleared her throat loudly. "So...Rach. How was your day at school?"

"Fine." Rachel shrugged and stabbed at her peas again.

Cuddy pursed her lips and nodded before turning back to her plate.

"She got a D on her math test," Amber added.

Rachel glared at her sister and punched her in the arm, hard.

"OW!" Amber yelled.

"Rachel?" Cuddy asked her daughter. "Is this true?"

Rachel turned back to her plate and stabbed even harder at her peas and didn't answer.

"Rachel Joy Cuddy. What is going on?"

Rachel slammed her fork down on the table. "I studied. As hard as I could. And I still got a D. I'm sorry." She picked her fork back up and went back to stabbing at her peas.

Cuddy groaned and put her head in her hands. "Rachel…we studied for hours…"

House touched Cuddy's arm. "She's…she's going to have Amber help her next time." House shot Rachel a look. Rachel looked at her sister and glared viciously again but Amber had her arms folded and was looking at a spot on the wall in the distance.

Cuddy picked her head from out of her hands. "That's a good idea. And Rachel you can help Amber with her English." Cuddy went back to her food and missed the anger between her daughters that passed. But House didn't.

MD

"Why did you tell them?" Rachel yelled at her sister. "Why? That was the brattiest little sister thing to do ever!"

"Mom needed to know!" Amber reiterated.

"No! She didn't! She doesn't need to think any less of me than she already does!"

"Oh come on! She's your mother, she loves you," Amber said.

"Yeah but she loves you more, you're her own child!"

"Well Dad loves you more!" Amber argued back.

Rachel sighed angrily. "You know what? I don't even care. I'm going to my room. I've got a big day tomorrow, get lost."

"What do you mean you have a big day tomorrow?" Amber smirked. "What? Your big softball game?"

"No." Rachel said matter-o-factly and crossed her arms, leaning against the doorframe of her room.

"What? A boy then?" Amber crossed her arms and leaned against the doorframe as well.

"Maybe, maybe not." Rachel added.

"Well…maybe I have a big day tomorrow too then," Amber added.

Rachel's smile dropped from her face. "Who?"

Amber smiled. "Just…a guy."

"You're ten years old!" Rachel exclaimed.

"You're barely thirteen!" Amber yelled back.

"That's much older than ten!" Rachel shouted.

"Why are you so defensive anyway? Afraid that we like the same guy?" Amber mocked.

Rachel looked at her sister dead in the face. "Are. You. Kidding. Me?"

Amber looked back at her sister. "No. You can't….Adam?"

Rachel banged her hand angrily on the doorframe. "How did I know this was going to happen? You're much too young to be dating."

"Excuse me? Mom said that maybe it would be ok!"

"Mom said? Dad said it was fine with him!" Rachel screamed.

"WHOA!" Cuddy came tearing up the steps. "WHAT is going on?"

"Is this true Mom? Did you tell Amber that it would be ok if she dated Adam?" Rachel cried.

"Well…I…maybe…she…what?" Cuddy spluttered.

"Mom, Rachel likes Adam too!" Amber yelled.

"Tell her I'm older and he's mine!" Rachel shouted.

"Shut up you stupid butthead!" Amber screamed.

"GIRLS!" Cuddy yelled. "We need to talk this out. Now I DID talk to Amber this afternoon but…"

"I KNEW IT!" Rachel burst into tears. "You've always loved Amber more because she's your own kid. I hate you both!" She went into the room and slammed the door so hard that it shook the frame.

Cuddy looked at Amber exasperated. "Go to your room. And stay there. We will deal with this once Rachel has cooled down."

MD

"I don't know what else we can do!" Cuddy practically chucked her blouse into the hamper. "They hate each other! Why can't they just get along?"

"They have opposite personalities. They're going to fight. Why are you so upset about this?" House asked. He was lying on their bed in his boxers reading a magazine.

"Because they were screaming at each other. Rachel nearly tore the door off its hinges."

"I know I heard," House said nonchalantly.

Cuddy looked at him with her hands on her hips. "You mean to tell me that you heard all of this and didn't come to back me up?"

"You had it handled," House responded. "And like I can get up those steps that fast."

Cuddy rolled her eyes. "Please." She walked into the bathroom. "Did you talk to Rachel this afternoon?"

"Yup."

"What did she say?"

"Well…she didn't want you to find out about that math test."

"And you wouldn't have told me?" Cuddy came out of the bathroom with white face cream all over her face that she was rubbing on.

"Nope." House flipped a page in his magazine.

Cuddy rolled her eyes and sighed, walking back into the bathroom. "I would have found out eventually! And I deserved to know!"

"You would have freaked out! Like you did at the dinner table."

"Oh please! I didn't freak out!"

"You used her full name!" House said irritably.

Cuddy came out of the bathroom, now with a toothbrush hanging out of her mouth. "So?"

House looked over at her. "Do you really HAVE to do all of that before bedtime?"

Cuddy took the toothbrush out of her mouth. "Are you serious?" Cuddy snapped and went back inside the bathroom. She came back out a moment later. "Do you have to be so nasty?"

"I wasn't being nasty! Geez you always jump to conclusions!" House closed the magazine angrily and threw it on the ground. "I'm going to bed."

"Ummm…excuse me! We aren't done here!" Cuddy exclaimed.

House rolled over. "Ok. Fine. What else do you want to talk about?"

"Rachel and Amber. And this boy. What do we do about it?"

"Easy. Rachel gets him, she's older. End of story. Good night." House rolled back over on his side but Cuddy grabbed his arm. "That's it? That's just…it?"

House barely glanced at her. "Yeah…that's it."

"What about Amber? And her feelings?" Cuddy cried.

"She just turned ten years old! She's barely old enough to know what sex is! She's still in elementary school! The answer is no!" House nearly yelled.

"This is just it!" Cuddy yelled. "You never even listen to me anymore! This is not what couples do! They talk to each other!"

"I AM talking to you!" House yelled. "I told you my decision! And it's final! Now go to bed!"

"NO!" Cuddy yelled.

House sat boltright up in bed. "What? What do you want from me? Huh? To favor the daughter that YOU'VE favored for the past 10 years?"

"What?" Cuddy leaped out of the bed. "How dare you! I love Rachel just as much as Amber. That's an awful thing to say!"

"Well it's the truth! I don't lie!" House yelled back.

"You know what? You know what…you're…you're IMPOSSIBLE!"

Amber stuck her head outside the door and saw Rachel standing at their parent's bedroom. Amber walked up slowly and looked over at her sister. Tears were streaming down from Rachel's face and Amber winced as she heard her mother's piercing voice yelling above her father's lower harsh one.

Amber gently took her sisters arm and pulled her away from the door. "We have to do something."

"Go away I don't want to talk to you!" Rachel whispered whispered fiercely.

"Rach, please" Amber begged. "We have to do something!"

Rachel sniffed and looked back at the door and then at her sister. "Alright. What do we do?"

Amber watched the door as she talked to her sister. "Call Uncle Jamey and Aunt Amy. Now."

_So I know this is kind of depressing first chapter, but I'm starting from the bottom and moving up! Lol I need you all to let me know if you like this and whether I should keep going. Also if you have any ideas be sure to let me know!_


	2. Rationalization Man to the Rescue

Rationalization Man to the Rescue

_So here we are, chapter 2 of All in the Family! Sorry that it has taken me so long to update…I'm a little short on ideas and have had little time to update! I'm going to try and get a chapter or 2 up this weekend because it's a holiday! Enjoy ;) P.S. a little reminder that this is an alternate House universe; nothing after Braveheart happened in this story. So things are slightly "inaccurate" lol_

James Evan Wilson was a successful oncologist who had been very unsuccessful with relationships in his past. It wasn't until a chance encounter with Amy Valentine, a cop who had pulled House over ten years earlier, that he had finally found happiness. Amy, a tall thin blonde, reminded Wilson a lot of Amber and he had learned to love her dearly.

"James its eleven o clock are you coming to bed?" Amy walked into Wilson's office room where he was typing away at a computer.

"Yes, yes one second," Wilson squinted and hunched over his desktop typing furiously away. His hair was now peppered with gray, but he still had his baby face, a trait he used to get away with being 'younger' than he really was.

"I'll wait," Amy leaned against the doorframe and crossed her arms. Wilson looked up from the computer, sighed, and signed off. "I'm sorry but Cuddy needed this report by the end of the week and I was trying…"

"Uh huh. Sure. Look you are not thirty years old anymore you are going to wear yourself out," Amy stated as she followed Wilson up the steps.

"I'm fine, I can handle it" Wilson brushed her statement off and Amy rolled her eyes and grinned.

They reached the bedroom and she layed out on the bed. "Well you know…I'm not all that tired and since you seem so awake… I wonder if you'd be awake enough to handle me?" She flipped her hair seductively and pushed her nightgown sleeve down on her shoulder.

Wilson grinned and nearly leaped into bed next to her and they began making out. They were interrupted by the ring of Wilson's phone.

"Don't get it" Amy murmured. Wilson was already attempting to detach himself. "But it…but it might be…important" he grunted and leaned over to pick up the cell phone from his nightstand. He looked at Amy, confused. "It's Rachel. Hello?"

"Hello?" He heard Rachel's voice on the other line and then another voice.

"Is that him?"

"Yes!"

"Give me the phone!"

"No!"

"Give it now you're blubbering too much..."

"Shut up!"

"Hello? HELLO?" Wilson practically yelled into the phone.

"Uncle Jamey? It's Amber."

Wilson ran a hand over his face. "Amber what's going on? Why are you calling me so late on a school night?"

"It's Mom and Dad. They're fighting again and it's really bad this time," her voice shook a little at the end. Wilson looked over at Amy, worried, and she put her head in her hands.

"Amber, Amber listen to me. Is anyone hurt? Is anyone leaving?"

Wilson hurt her mumbling something and Rachel's voice on the other line. "No. No Uncle Jamey none of that. The fighting stopped but…aack!"

"Amber? AMBER!" Wilson yelled into the phone and sighed. He heard footsteps and voices on the other line so he didn't hang up. A couple minutes later Rachel's voice came through. "Hello? Hello?"

"I'm here. I'm here. Rachel?"

"Yes. Sorry, mom came in to check on us so I had to run to my room but I left the phone in Amber's. Mom went downstairs to sleep on the fold out couch."

"Rachel listen to me. Is everything alright?"

"Yes…now. But please Uncle Jamey you have to do something!" Rachel pleaded.

"Ok I will. Don't worry sweetheart. Go to bed now ok?" He hung up the phone and turned to Amy. "Looks like it's time for us to step in."

MD

House sat at his desk with his head in his hand twirling his ball around in his other hand. He had just popped about six ibuprofen because his leg had not been hurting him this much since….well for a long time. He looked up as Carter, Greene, and Baker strolled into his office with their files. "We have a case House!" Greene called out cheerfully.

House looked up at the three members of his team, made a face, and went back to his sulking.

Baker looked at her team members and then walked over to House to put a hand on his arm. "Are you alright?"

"Touching! No touching! Against the rules!" She backed away slowly with her hand still out and turned to her other team members for support. They shrugged and were saved by Wilson walking into the office.

"We need to talk House," he crossed his arms.

"Sorry. Not in the mood. Besides, we are in the middle of a differential," House pointed to his team.

They backed out of the room quickly, knowing that something was going on. House sat up. "Excuse me? We were in the middle of something!"

"No. You weren't" Wilson said matter o factly. "Besides this is more important."

House sat back in his chair and crossed his arms behind his head with his feet on the desk. "Fine. What?"

"Well, it was about eleven o clock last night, and all of a sudden I got a phone call from Rachel and Amber."

House frowned and then quickly changed his face back to a blank stare. "So?"

"So..they were upset because their parents were having a shouting match and they didn't know what else to do."

House turned his head away from Wilsons, looked at the white board on his wall and said nothing.

"I see…" Wilson walked across the room and stood in front of his desk. "So you don't care enough about Cuddy and the girls to…"

"No!" House muttered. "You have NO idea what's going on so you have no business stepping into OUR business. Get out."

"No," Wilson responded and he sat down in the chair. House didn't respond and Wilson sighed, putting his head in his hands. "What is happening House? The past couple of months…it just seems like you guys have fallen apart."

House still said nothing and started rubbing his leg with his hand. Wilson, noticing House's movement, leaned forward on the desk. "What? House what is it?"

"I don't know!" House yelled suddenly. "I don't…know," he finished quietly. "Lately it seems like all we have been doing is fighting."

"House is there anything I can do to help? To help you through this?" Wilson asked, concerned.

"I don't think there will be a way to get through this," House responded.

Wilson looked at House, scared. "But...House! You have two kids; you've been living together for ten years! You…"

"I know! I don't need a lecture!" House's voice went up again and he stood up suddenly. "Now if you don't mind, I have work that needs to be done." He limped away into the other room to join his team.

MD

Cuddy picked up a stack of files and dropped them a little too loudly on her secretary's desk. She looked up at Cuddy, shocked, and opened her mouth to ask what was wrong but Cuddy had already turned on her heel and went back into her office. When she opened the door, Wilson was sitting on her couch with his legs crossed and his arms resting on his knees.

Cuddy jumped three feet in the air and put a hand to her heart. "Sheesh James you scared me." She laughed a little bit and went over to her desk.

"Red rimmed eyes, fast paced walking, slamming of files…"

"What are you now, House?" She asked sarcastically before plopping down in her chair and pulling her hair back in a little ponytail. She took another stack of files and placed them in front of her and began working. A couple of seconds later she looked up at Wilson, who was staring at her.

"What?" She asked a little uncomfortably.

"I just had a talk with House about your relationship." Wilson said.

Cuddy looked like she didn't know whether to be angry or burst into tears. "Well…?"

"He was upset. But he didn't want to talk about it."

"Okay." Cuddy turned back to her files before stopping when Wilson continued staring at her. She took off her glasses and placed them on the table. "Ok, nosy. What do you want to know?"

"What I can tell House to do so that you no longer feel underappreciated and unloved."

Cuddy frowned. "How did you…?"

"You have been together for ten years! That always happens to couples after so long!"

"It doesn't happen with you and Amy" Cuddy muttered.

"Yeah well…she's not House." Wilson stated.

Cuddy suddenly covered her face with her hands and stifled back a sob. Wilson got up and walked over putting a hand on her shoulder. "Just tell him how you feel. Explain to him what you expect, why you feel…"

"I don't know what I feel okay?" Cuddy looked up at Wilson, her eyes glittering with tears. "Maybe I don't love him anymore you know? But maybe I don't…I just don't know!"

"You sound like House…" Wilson mumbled to himself.

"What?"

"You NEED to talk to him Cuddy." Wilson looked down at her with care. "I think he is as confused as you are. Figure it out. You KNOW how much I hate to see my two best friends upset." Wilson smiled.

Cuddy put a hand on top of Wilsons. "Thank you."

"Maybe he will be more open now that I've talked to him," Wilson suggested, heading for the door.

"I doubt it but…we'll see" Cuddy tried to smile but it felt more like grimace. It looked to Wilson more like a grimace too.

MD

"Did you talk to Mom and Dad today?" Rachel asked Wilson on her cell phone, outside of the middle school.

"Yes I did. But disclosing anything further than that would be none of your business," Wilson replied gently. "They seemed much better today though I think that last night was probably the worst of it."

Rachel shot her sister a disbelieving look and they stopped at the curb. "Alright. Thanks Uncle Jamey. Amy will be here any minute."

Rachel shut the phone and looked at Amber. "He 'said' he talked to them."

"He doesn't lie. If he did then he did," Amber waved her arm out in the street as Amy pulled up in front of the school. "Let's just…talk about this later." She opened the car door. "Evan get out of the front seat it's my turn."

"Nuh uh. You had your turn two days ago. It's your turn tomorrow," Evan Wilson crossed his arms.

Amber sighed and turned to Amy. "Can you puh-leaze get your son out of the front seat?"

"He's right Amber it's your turn tomorrow get in," Rachel pulled her sisters arm towards the backseat.

Amber shoved her sister's arm off and climbed into the backseat next to Rachel. "Fine. Whatever."

"Did you girls have a good day at school?" Amy asked as she drove off.

They both mumbled "yeahs" and looked out the backseat. Amy looked at them in her rearview mirror. "I know you two are upset about what happened last night. But don't worry about it, your parents will figure it out."

"What happened?" Evan turned around and looked at them, interested.

"None of your business" Amber said.

Evan frowned and turned back to face the front, hurt.

Rachel, noticing this exchange, nudged her sister. "You know Evan likes you," she whispered.

"He's eight years old," Amber hissed.

"So? When you're eighteen and twenty it won't be a big deal," Rachel said wisely.

Amber just glared at her and looked back over out the window.

MD

The dinner table was quiet again. Rachel sneaked a glance at her mother and then her father while Amber was watching her father then her sister. Cuddy was sneaking glances at House and Rachel while House was keeping his head down looking at his plate.

"I have homework to do," Rachel said suddenly. Amber jumped up. "Me too." They practically ran from the room leaving House and Cuddy alone in the dining room. Cuddy put her fork down and looked over at House.

House continued to keep his head down. "Greg?" Cuddy asked gently.

"What?" House said, in a husky voice. He still hadn't picked his head up.

"Can we…talk?" She put a hand on his arm. He picked his head up and looked at her. "What about?"

"About…everything" Cuddy responded.

House shook his head. "No thanks." He picked his plate up and took it into the kitchen.

Cuddy picked her plate up and followed. "What do you mean 'no thank you?' We have issues to sort out!"

House put his plate in the sink. "No. We just need to stop arguing."

"There's more to it than that!" Cuddy exclaimed.

"See? We are arguing already!" House responded.

Ugh…Greg!" Cuddy went after House as he walked into the living room. "Why are you avoiding this? What are you afraid?"

"No."

"I think you are. You're afraid. You're afraid that we are going to talk this out and there's not going to be a solution. You're worried that its over between us and nothing can be done about it."

House stopped and didn't turn around. Cuddy took a deep breath. "That is what you're afraid of isn't it?"

House turned around. "What if it IS over?"

Cuddy's eyes filled and she bit her lip. She turned to walk out of the room. "Are you sure you don't…want to talk?" Her voice broke.

House stared at her, sadly, and Cuddy walked back across the room. She put her arms around him and he hugged her back. "Is everything over?" Cuddy whispered.

"I don't know" House responded softly. Cuddy withdrew and walked away quickly. She went up the stairs and didn't notice Amber and Rachel peeking out through their bedroom doors. Cuddy shut the door behind her and the girls heard quiet sobbing as they exited their rooms. They stared at each other, shocked.

"That can't be good," Amber said.

Rachel looked down the staircase and didn't see her father. "No. I'm getting really worried…" She looked around at Amber. Her face looked shocked, scared, and crestfallen.

"We HAVE to do something" Amber whispered urgently.

"I don't know what else to do!" Rachel turned around and looked back over the banister.

Amber walked over to her. "We'll have to fix this ourselves then."

"How?" Rachel looked at her sister. "We've only known them for ten years of their lives! Didn't they tell us once that they knew one another in college?"

"So?" Amber put her hands on her hips.

"So…I think we are going to be missing a few curfews," Rachel smiled at her sister.

"That's more like it," Amber smiled back.

_So let me know what you all think! I'm going to try and update as soon as possible! Please PLEASE give me any ideas you have!_


	3. Digging up the Past

Digging up the Past

_Here we are chapter 3 of All in the Family! Enjoy!_

Rachel walked by her sister's locker and shut it. "Hey!" Amber turned to her sister and then went to re-open it. "I wasn't finished getting my stuff out of there!"

"We don't have time for this we've gotta go!" Rachel held the locker door shut.

Amber shoved her sister's arm off the locker. "We have time. If we go tearing out of here then Amy is going to notice something suspicious and ask us what's going on. And you are a terrible liar so she will see through this in a second."

Rachel sighed, crossed her arms, and leaned against the lockers next to Amber's. "I'm just nervous. I can't help thinking that we are doing something illegal. I mean…what if they catch us? What if Uncle Jamey catches us? Or worse yet…"

"Rachel," Amber shut her locker door and turned to her sister. "Stop worrying."

"I just can't help it," Rachel exclaimed. "Just what we need is them discovering us and it blowing up in our faces."

"It won't blow up in our faces unless you keep freaking out! All we are doing is taking files out of their computers. It's not hard I can do it."

Rachel looked at her sister for a couple of minutes and then nodded quietly. They linked arms and slowly walked out of the school.

MD

"Hi Mom," Rachel walked into Cuddy's office and sat down on the couch.

"Hey," Cuddy looked up as her eldest daughter walked in. She put her head in her hands and watched Rachel as she sat down on the couch and leaned back against it.

Rachel said nothing and continued to sit quietly with her eyes shut.

"Are you still mad at me?" Cuddy asked. "I really want to talk about the other night…"

"Not now Mom I'm not really feeling well," Rachel answered with her eyes still shut.

Cuddy got up and walked over to the couch sitting next to her. She put her hand on Rachel's forehead. "You don't feel warm."

"It's a stomach thing I feel….really nauseous…" Rachel made a face and grabbed her stomach. She suddenly jumped up. "I think I'm going to throw up…" She ran from the room with a hand to her mouth.

Cuddy bit her lip and then followed her daughter out of the room. She walked into the bathroom and heard retching sounds and then a toilet flushing. "Rach? Is that you?"

"Yeah Ma," Rachel said quickly. "Will you stay in here with me?"

"Sure sweetie," Cuddy walked up and stood next to the door.

MD

"Got it!" Amber held up a flash drive in Rachel's face, grinning. "I think this is everything we needed."

"You didn't dump everything on there did you?" Rachel asked worried. "I don't want to find out stuff we don't need to know."

"Rachel you REALLY need to relax" Amber grinned. "What do you think, that I turned ten yesterday?"

Rachel opened her mouth "Well technically…"

"Shut up. Look, stuff that had nothing to do with them like patient files and such I didn't touch. I took anything that had Dad's name on it, his department, personal files of Mom's, and her email password."

"Maybe you should become a computer technician" Rachel muttered.

"Ok smartass…"

"Hey! Language!"

"Oh please. Look, we have what we need. We just need to go through it until we find..."

"What? Find what? What are we even looking for? I agreed to this plan of yours because you insisted that once we had this information…"

"Shut up ok just shut up Rachel!" Amber yelled. "All you've been doing all day is worrying and complaining and telling me that my plan is all wrong. If you've got a better one, PLEASE let me know!"

"I think that we need to get stuff off of Dad's computer too," Rachel said suddenly.

"There isn't any more room on this flash drive," Amber whined.

"Yes but they are a fighting couple" Rachel interjected. "It means that there are things they aren't or haven't told each other. What if there is stuff on Dad's computer that we need?"

"Well I can get more of the information…you just have to get Dad out of his office. Which is going to be…"

"Harder, yeah," Rachel sighed. "And you're going to have less time too. We'll need to plan…"

"No. We don't have that kind of time," Amber reiterated. "We have to do it now."

"But what do I do? Ask for math help? Ask him to throw a ball for me?"

"I don't know but you better think of something quickly, I have to go borrow Mom's flash drive," Amber nodded at her sister and walked away.

MD

"Hey Dad!" Rachel strolled into her Dad's office.

"Hi," he mumbled. He was on his computer again.

"I was wondering of you could help me," Rachel asked, coming up to the edge of his desk.

"With what?"

"Well I was in the clinic just messing around and I spilled a bunch of stuff. I told Mom and she said that you had to help me clean it up."

House looked up and frowned. "Are you being serious?"

Rachel bit her lip, just like her mother had done so many times, and looked down. "Mom was really mad."

House looked up at his daughter. "And YOU are lying through your teeth."

Rachel gasped. "I am not!"

House raised his eyebrow and looked over at his daughter. "Well then I'll go ahead and call down to…"

"No!" Rachel shouted as her father reached for the phone. He stared at her again. "She was very angry Dad that's not a good idea."

"Ok Rachel what do you want? For real?" House folded his hands and looked up at her.

Rachel sighed and stared at her feet. "I actually…I wasn't feeling good today and wanted to take a walk and I wanted to know…because of your leg…." Rachel looked up at her father with disguised worry.

House gave her a little smile. "Alright I'll go on a walk with you." He stood up grabbed his cane and limped out of the office with her. As they turned the corner in the hallway, Rachel saw her sister slip into his office from her peripheral line of vision.

MD

"Did you find anything yet?" Amber walked into the room with an apple in her hand. She threw it to her sister who caught it.

"Nope. I'm still not sure exactly what we are looking for though. I've been going through Dad's emails but there's not really anything…wait!"

"What?" Amber fairly leaped across the room. "What is it?"

"Well there appear to be emails between Dad and this P.I….what is a P.I.?"

Amber frowned. "I don't know…google it."

Rachel pulled up the google page. "It says that a P.I. is a….private investigator." She turned to her sister. "We need to find out who this private investigator is. Maybe he can help us."

"He could be a fake," Amber sat down heavily on her sister's bed. "We don't know. And how could he help us with this case?"

"Well he might know more about Mom and Dad. Or he might know who to ask!"

"No way. Private investigators sound fancy enough. Imagine how much they probably cost. He might charge us a thousand dollars just to call him!" Amber exclaimed.

"Well then I think we are left with just trying to find out who Mom and Dad have worked with in the past. That's got to be our best bet. Now…the three people Dad has currently been working with have been here for three years already. Who was here before?"

"Whoever it was may not have been a fan of Dad though. We need to be careful Rach."

"I'm not stupid." Rachel rolled her eyes and pulled up the Diagnostic file. "Ok here we go…"

MD

House and Cuddy sat silently at the dinner table. House was fooling around with the food on his plate and Cuddy was not even trying to eat. She sat with her arms folded resting on the table and she stared at House.

"What?" He grumbled. "You're making me nervous."

"I'm sorry about last night," Cuddy responded quietly. "I am really getting sick of all this fighting. I just want everything to go back to the way that it was. Can you help me do that?"

House looked up at her slowly, and nodded.

Cuddy gave him a little smile. "Good. I…"

"Hey Mom can I borrow your laptop?" Amber came running down the steps and skidded to a halt in front of the table.

"Why don't you use your sisters?"

"Well she's using it right now. Please?"

"Alright. All my files are locked so you can use it. Just be careful with it ok? And don't download any games!" Cuddy shouted at Amber who was already running back up the steps.

Cuddy sighed and looked over at House. "She's a lot more like you than you think you know."

House nodded. "And Rachel is a lot more like you than you think."

Cuddy looked at House and cocked her head. "What do you mean?"

"Well she's really smart but doesn't really know what she wants. She needs someone to love her but doesn't know how to express it."

"Gee I didn't realize that you suddenly were so tuned into other people's feelings," Cuddy replied rather sarcastically.

"I'm just observant," House replied.

Cuddy ran a hand through her hair. "Look, I love Rachel very much and always have. I don't know why you keep telling me that I don't love her enough. Just because you empathize with her doesn't mean that…"

"I don't want to discuss this right now," House said heatedly. He got up and walked into the other room plopping down on the couch. Cuddy sat down next to him. She took his hands in hers. "Why House? Why do you always deflect? WHY?"

House said nothing and stared at the blank television screen. "I'm not deflecting I'm trying to avoid another fight."

Cuddy sighed. "You're right. I shouldn't push you." She sat back against the couch. She turned to look at her aging husband; his hair was entirely gray, his face even more full of wrinkles…and yet there was a youthfulness about him and his blue eyes…they were still so full of electricity. Cuddy leaned into his arm and turned to the television screen which he had switched on.

House instinctively wrapped his arm around her and they sat there for a couple of minutes before Cuddy sighed dramatically.

House said nothing and Cuddy sighed dramatically again. House rolled his eyes. "We are NOT talking about that again."

"About what?" Cuddy sat up straight and looked over at him.

"Nothing," House said without turning his head.

"No really. What?" Cuddy took his face and turned it to face hers.

"I thought you were going to complain about not being married again."

Cuddy grabbed the remote out of his other hand and switched the television off. "I was merely trying to get your attention. You never pay attention to me. But hey if you wanted to jump straight to that…"

"Just settle down ok? I don't feel like dealing with your PMS delusions right now!"

Cuddy gasped. "How did you…how did you know..?"

"It doesn't matter. Can we just drop it?"

"You were the one that brought it up!" Cuddy fairly shrieked.

"I thought that it was what you were going to bring up!" House cried. "You are always so weird about it…"

"I am? I am always so weird about it? We've been together for almost eleven years and we aren't married! I've always wondered why. Why. What is so hard about that?"

"Marriage makes everything complicated! Living together is easier it makes things LESS complicated," House tried to explain.

"Oh really. Like breaking up?" Cuddy stood up and put her hands on her hips.

"That's not what I meant and you know it," House replied.

"Well what do you mean? I never know anymore. You claim to love me but you have a funny way of showing it."

"Last time I checked I didn't need to tell you I loved you every five minutes if we are together."

"Last time I checked that's what couples DID" Cuddy said and then she stopped because angry tears had come to her eyes. "I need to know that I'm loved House! I need to know that you appreciate me."

"When have I ever said that I didn't? You seemed to have forgotten that you are with ME. Not some perfect guy with a white picket fence and two point five kids. You chose to spend your life with an old crippled man and if you can't see through my exterior than obviously I can't see through yours!"

"Here we go again! Your pity party!" Cuddy threw her hands up in the air. "You know I've had it with that? Just because you have trouble walking doesn't excuse you from helping me or going to attend games and cheer meets!"

"And just because you gave birth to one daughter doesn't excuse you from not loving the other!"

Cuddy stopped. "Here we go again, you still think that! You think that I love Rachel less. Well it's not true."

"Yes it is. Wanna know why Rachel has trouble in school? Why she and Amber fight? Because Amber is favored and you know it."

"No I do NOT know it and it's NOT true" Cuddy said dangerously. "What you are accusing me of is terrible and unwarranted."

"But it's true."

"No. You just think that because you see a troubled Rachel and think that she's you incarnate. You think that she's the little you alone and abused by her parent who isn't her "real" parent. You see someone who is looked down on by other people and picked on like you were when you were young."

"And you see the perfect model child that you were and want your kids to be. But Rachel didn't pass the test. So you ditched her and moved onto the other daughter, the real one, the one that you love more."

Cuddy's tears actually started this time. "Screw you." She turned on her heel and marched out of the door slamming it behind her. House threw his cane against the wall, hard, and it snapped in half. He angrily brushed away tears that had started to form in his eyes and sat back down on the couch, heavily.

MD

Rachel and Amber, intent on their work, had turned the radio on and heard nothing of their parents fight or their mom's flight.

Amber yawned. "I'm going to go to bed. I'm exhausted."

"We still have time!" Rachel protested. "I don't know why it's so hard to sort through all of this stuff…"

"That's because we don't know what we are doing! Look it can wait until tomorrow can you just…"

"Hush. I found something. Look. It's an email between Mom and a woman named Allison Cameron dated about two years ago. Now look, if I enter her name into the search bar under Dad's files…" Rachel rolled her chair over to Amber's and typed it in. "Her name comes up about a hundred times. One of them…under the Diagnostic department."

Amber walked over and clicked on the file. Cameron's resume pulled up. "It says here that she worked under Dad about ten years ago."

"Yup. Which means that she had to have known Mom and Dad before they got together." Rachel finished. "We should call her."

"Yes but this file is old. What if the number is?"

"There's one listed on the email she sent Mom. Let's try it." Rachel pulled out her cell phone.

"Are you crazy? Amber grabbed her arm. "What do we say?"

"The truth." Rachel hit the call button and waited as the phone rang a couple of times. It went to voicemail. _"Hi you've reached Allison, Robert, Jessica, Danny, and Rowan. We can't come to the phone right now. Please leave us a message and we will get back to you as soon as we can!"_

Rachel quickly hung up. "That was definitely Allison Cameron."

"Yes but look…" Amber pulled up the search box and typed in _Allison Cameron Robert._

"Robert Chase." Rachel looked at her sister. "Two of his team members got married."

"I think that we should pay them a little visit after school tomorrow don't you?" Amber asked her sister.

_Hope you liked the new chapter. I fortunately get to keep Cameron and Chase together because my fanfic was written before they split up! *grins* The next chapter should be up within the next few days. As usual let me know what you think! _


	4. Duck, Duck, Duck

Duck…Duck…

_Here we are chapter 4! I've been getting a lot of story alerts but not many reviews so if you are reading my chapters please please please REVIEW. I would love to hear anything you have to say whether its thoughts, concerns, criticism…I'm writing this for you! __ Enjoy!_

"Morning Dad," Rachel said as she put her pop tarts in the toaster. She watched her Dad out of the corner of her eye. "What's wrong?"

"It's 7 in the morning that's what's wrong" House grumbled as he opened the refrigerator door.

"Where's Mom?"Rachel frowned and looked around. "Normally she's down here…"

"She went into work early" House interrupted gruffly. Rachel stopped and looked over at her father. Sensing something wrong she got her breakfast out of the toaster and turned to her father after taking a bite. "Amber and I are going to go over to Emily's after school today."

"Ok. When will you be home?"

"I don't know probably after dinner time."

House stopped and looked at her. "You know, you've been acting funny the past couple days. Why is Amber going with you? Are you really going to Emily's?"

"I have to work on a school project and I thought Amber could help." Rachel shrugged. "Can we go or not?"

House raised an eyebrow. "Alright. Whatever. Make sure your phone is on you or your mom will freak out."

"Yes sir," Rachel said and walked out.

House groaned and put his hand on his back. "Yeah. 'Sir…'

MD

Rachel and Amber sat down on the bus. "So how long is this going to take exactly?" Amber asked as she popped her bubble gum.

"I told Dad that we would probably be back by dinner time. It's three thirty now. I'd say that we will only have an hour with Doctors Cameron and Chase before we are going to have to get back on the bus."

"That's not a lot of time…"Amber said and smacked her gum again. An old woman looked over at the girls, annoyed.

"Well it's going to have to be. We don't even know if these two will give us any information! They may not remember our parents at all…"

"Fat chance." Amber popped her gum again. "They're really weird."

"YOU'RE really weird," Rachel said.

Amber popped her gum even louder in Rachel's face who merely stuck out her tongue and turned to look back out the window.

"Don't you girls need to be in school?" The old lady across the aisle asked.

"It was already let out. We are visiting our grandma in Upper Jersey" Amber said nonchalantly. She put her feet up on the seat. Rachel smacked them down.

The old lady sighed and made an annoyed noise but didn't say anything else.

An hour later the girls got off the bus in Lakewood and looked around at their surroundings. Rachel looked down at the paper with the scribbled address. "It looks like it's only a couple blocks up from here. We don't have much time come on."

"What if they aren't there?" Amber asked, running a little bit to keep up with her sister's longer strides.

"Then we leave a note and turn around to go back" Rachel responded.

"Well they may never respond to us" Amber said.

Rachel stopped in her tracks and looked at her sister. "I thought that I was the one that was supposed to be freaking out here!"

Amber didn't say anything but just kept walking on ahead and Rachel sighed, following her. A couple minutes later she grabbed her sister's arm. "Stop!"

Amber halted and looked to see where Rachel was pointing. It was a townhouse with a red door and blue shutters. They walked up the door. Rachel looked at Amber who nodded. She took a deep breath and knocked on the door.

There was the sound of yells and running feet. A couple seconds later a door opened and a boy with blonde hair opened the door. "Who are you?"

"Umm…my name is Rachel and this is Amber…." Rachel started.

"Ohhhhh….you must be here for Jessica. Jessica!" The boy turned around and yelled into the house.

"What?"

"There are friends here for you!"

"No. No!" Amber said. "We are here to see your parents are they home?"

"Rowan? What's going on who is at the door?" A blonde woman came to the door with a toddler boy in her arms. "Are you here for Jessica?"

"No ma'am we are here to talk to you. Are you Allison Cameron?" Rachel asked.

Cameron frowned. "Yes. Umm…why are you here? Is there a problem?"

"My name is Rachel Cuddy and this is my sister Amber. We wanted to talk to you."

Cameron paused for a moment. "As in...Rachel Cuddy, the daughter of Lisa Cuddy?"

"Yes," Amber cut in. "We really need to talk to you it's important may we come in?"

Cameron pulled the door open and let the girls in.

MD

"So…let me get this straight…you took the bus from Princeton to come and talk to me about your parents?" Cameron sat down on a chair across from Rachel and Amber who were seated uncomfortably on the couch.

"Yes. Our parents are fighting. We think that they may be splitting up," Amber replied.

"We thought maybe you could tell us about them and how they got together," Rachel finished.

Cameron sighed, crossed her arms, and leaned back against the chair. "I can't believe this…after ten years. I'm surprised that they stayed together this long!"

Rachel and Amber exchanged a glance. "What do you mean?" Rachel said.

"Those two were always fighting…I remember when House hired me the first day Cuddy came by his room and they started yelling. Then she left and he came back inside like nothing happened. A couple hours later, we had to follow him to her office. He made a comment about her appearance…."

"What?" Amber asked. "Dad didn't like the way Mom looked?"

Cameron laughed. "Are you kidding? Your Dad thought your Mom was hotter than Megan Fox!"

"I don't think that he thinks that anymore. At least…Mom complains he doesn't" Rachel said a little sadly.

Cameron sat forward on her knees. "Well help him remember then. Remind him that Cuddy is a beautiful woman. That could help."

"But I'm confused. Why were they always fighting if they loved each other?" Amber said. "You said they were fighting. They really didn't fight much when we were little."

"House and Cuddy are two very alike people," Cameron stood up, crossed her arms, and began pacing. "The two of them…they both like power. They both like to be in control. They are equals. They generally fought only when that balance was disrupted."

Amber and Rachel, newly confused, looked back over at Cameron. "I don't really know…" Rachel started.

"Both of you are way too young to remember, but the way your parents communicated was through fighting. Are you sure that that's not what they're doing?"

"They aren't just fighting to fight. We are used to that it's normal," Amber said smartly. "But within the past couple of months they've started fighting over us, over appearances, and who is paying attention to who, getting married... They never used to do that."

Suddenly the door opened and shut and a man's accented voice rang through the house. "Allison? I'm home! Geez that surgery took six hours I'm exhausted! Do you think you could…?" Chase walked into the room and stopped. "What's going on?"

"You're just in time," Cameron said as she sat back down. "I was just having a discussion with Rachel Cuddy and Amber House."

MD

"So…let me get this straight," Chase started. "You two drove out here to talk to two strangers about your parents."

Amber and Rachel nodded and Chase shook his head. "Well they're definitely House and Cuddy's children. You guys are crazy! We could have molested you!"

"Robert!" Cameron smacked his arm. "Don't scare them."

"Look girls, I don't know what you came here for but I don't think it's a good idea that you are here. It's getting late and you're parents will be worried. Do they even know you're here?"

Rachel hung her head. "No. They think that we are at our friend Emily's house." She picked her head back up. "But PLEASE don't tell! They'll kill us! And we are just trying to help!"

"Please. We owe them that," Cameron begged of her husband.

"We don't owe them anything," Chase responded. "House was nothing but an arrogant…ignoramus" he corrected himself. "And Cuddy defended him to the death. The stuff he got away with…" he trailed off.

"Like what?" Amber asked eagerly.

Chase sat back down. "House basically runs Princeton. He can do what he wants, runs the tests that he wants…he has had numerous law suits filed against him and Cuddy always let him get away with it."

"Dad does say some nasty stuff sometimes. But I know that he doesn't mean it!" Rachel protested. "Mom has said some nasty stuff to him too!"

Chase let out a little humph and leaned back in his chair.

"You guys will have to excuse him he's gotten old a little early…" Cameron shot him a look. "I think that what you girls need to do is remind them of how they first met."

"Well can you help us?" Amber asked.

"They met before House was hired at the hospital" Cameron said. "They met in Michigan at college when your mom was around twenty and your dad around twenty five. Unfortunately, I never heard that story."

"If you do let me in on it" Chase said sarcastically and stood up. "Now if you'll excuse me I'm going to go get some sleep." He stalked out of the room and Cameron looked at the girls a little apologetically. "House and Robert never really got along."

"I can tell" Rachel said under her breath. She pulled the phone out and saw that it read six. "Shit!" She stood up and shouted and then clasped a hand to her mouth.

Amber looked up at her. "Hey! Language!"

"I'm sorry but we really need to go like now! The bus is supposed to come…oh geez if we missed it…" she grabbed her sister's arm and started towards the door.

"Wait! Wait!" Cameron called and she scribbled a bunch of stuff on a little slip of paper. "I hope this helps you. And this has my cell phone number on it. Please call me if you need anything else. I'm sorry you couldn't stay longer."

"Thank you" Rachel and Amber shouted as they tore down the block. The bus was pulling away, and the girls had to race down the sidewalk and pound on the doors for the driver to let them in.

"We really need to learn to keep better time!" Amber puffed as they climbed in.

MD

"Hey Lisa how are you feeling today?" Amy walked into Cuddy's office and sat down.

"What do you think?" Cuddy said, a little more nastily then intended. She looked, and felt, exhausted.

Amy sighed and sat down in a chair across from her desk. "I'm thinking that you feel like shit. Is my guess correct?"

Cuddy said nothing and turned back to her computer.

"Lisa I know that you want to be alone right now but I don't think that you should be. You should talk about…"

"I don't want to!" Cuddy's voice cracked. She stopped and went back to the screen. "The last couple times I've tried to talk about it…with you or Wilson or him… things just get worse," she said quietly.

"Why don't you guys go to a couples counseling?" Amy suggested.

"Yeah. Like he would agree to that," Cuddy answered.

"Well I'm really worried about you Lisa. You can't come and crash at our place for the rest of the week. And you would have to tell the girls. That would upset them! They would…"

"I KNOW!" Cuddy shoved her computer screen aside. "Don't you think I know?"

Amy took a deep breath and looked down. "Okay. You can come to our house again tonight if you need to." She got up and opened the door to the office.

"Amy." She stopped and turned around to face Cuddy who had stood up and walked over to her. "Thank you. I really am thankful for your friendship."

Amy smiled. "I know you are. You two can make it through this I know you can."

Cuddy sighed. "I hope so. I really truly hope so."

MD

Wilson waltzed into House's office. "So….."

House looked up at Wilson and then back down at his file. "Ok you got me. So….what?"

"So we had an unexpected guest spend the night last night." Wilson finished.

"Oh really? And who was that?" House said sarcastically.

"House, deflecting this…"

"I'm not deflecting!" House threw his hands in the air.

"Ok. Ok." Wilson put his hands up too and took a seat across from his best friend. "The question is what you are going to do about it."

"I don't know," House said after a couple of seconds. What scared Wilson was the dejected tone of voice that his friend used.

"Did you guys at least try talking? Without fighting?" Wilson asked.

"Yes! It didn't work! We just started fighting again!"

"Are you two going to separate?"

"None of your business! Now get out!" House said.

"But I…"

"I said get OUT!" House yelled and he put his head in his hands. Wilson got up slowly and walked out of the door, turning to look at his sad friend on the way out.

MD

"Its seven o clock where the hell were you?" House said as they walked in.

"We were at Emily's! You could have called us you know" Amber responded.

"Yeah well…." House started. "Why do you smell like the bus?" He crossed his arms.

Rachel and Amber exchanged a glance and Amber sighed. "Emily's mom couldn't bring us home so we rode home on the bus."

House said nothing and walked into the other room. "Where's Mom?" Amber asked.

"At work" House responded.

"She's been at work all day when is she coming home?" Rachel asked again.

"I don't know."

Rachel and Amber followed their father into the other room. "WHAT is going on Dad?" Amber reiterated. "Where is Mom? What is going on?"

"She's staying at Wilson's."

Amber took a deep breath and grabbed onto her sisters arm because tears had welled up in Rachel's eyes. "How long?"

House turned to his daughters. "I…I don't know. I'm…sorry," he looked sorry but they didn't wait to find out. They tore up the steps and into Rachel's room. Amber slammed the door and leaned against it as Rachel sat down on the bed with her head in her hands.

"Don't start crying now" Amber said. "We have to keep going. It's not looking good."

"We didn't accomplish anything!" Rachel wailed.

"Yes we did! Give me that slip of paper!" Rachel pulled the paper out of her jeans and handed it to her.

Amber looked at it. "Look what Dr. Cameron put. Number one, make House remember that Cuddy is gorgeous. Number two, re-make how they met. Those are two really good ideas!"

"And how are we supposed to find out how they met?" Rachel said. "We don't have the means of doing that!"

"That's why we keep looking and don't give up!" Amber said. "They are sad without each other."

"Well did Cameron put anything else on that paper?" Rachel said and sniffed. She wiped her nose on her sleeve.

"No! Look." She handed it to Rachel who made a face at her sister. "She wrote another number on this paper smart one. Look it says…Eric something cell. Type it in on the computer."

Amber walked over and pulled up her mother's files and typed it in. "Look at this! Eric Foreman…it popped right up. Looks like he was also a member of the team!"

"The same one as Doctors Chase and Cameron" Rachel said. She looked over at her sister. "He might have something else that can help us!"

"Well call him! Quick!" Amber said and handed her sister the cell phone. Rachel dialed the number and hit the speaker button.

"Hello?" A deep man's voice answered.

"Hello?" Rachel said, surprised. She looked over at her sister, shocked, and Amber merely shrugged, just as shocked.

"Hello? Who is this?" Foreman's voice came through again.

"Umm hi. This is uhh Rachel Cuddy. Are you Eric Foreman?"

There was a pause. "Lisa Cuddy's Rachel?"

"Yes." Rachel waited for a few more seconds and bit her lip nervously.

"Is there something wrong?" The voice came back through.

"No but…"

"Then please don't call again. Bye."

"No! No wait! Dr. Foreman please we need your help! It's really important it's about our parents!"

"Are they in trouble?"

"Yes! Can you help us? We really want to talk to you."

There was a sigh. "Alright. What do you need?"

_I hope that you enjoyed the new chapter! __ I know I kind of left it hanging but you know I love doing that :p _


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